Statistical comparisons
Sanford Silverburg, who teaches at Catawba College, recommends the OECD publication, Babies and Bosses, as a source of data for comparative exercises. As he says, "This report appears to be a good source for a socio-political analysis of OECD countries and comparative political hypothesis testing." I'd add that it would be a great way of helping students learn to read and interpret graphical data.The book is described at the OECD book store this way:
"Finding a suitable work/family life balance is a challenge that all parents face. Some people would like to have (more) children, but do not see how they could match that commitment with their employment situation. Other parents are happy with the number of children in their family, but would like to work more. Yet other parents who are happy with their family situation, may wish to work at different hours, or reduce hours worked to spend more time with their children. This book synthesises the finding of the 13 individual country reviews published previously and extends the scope to include other OECD countries, examining tax/benefit policies, parental leave systems, child care support, and workplace practices."
Here is the table of contents:
Chapter 1. Reconciling Work and Family Life in OECD Countries: Main Findings and Policy Recommendations
Chapter 2. The Demographic and Family Environment
Chapter 3. Parents in Employment - Achievements and Challenges
Chapter 4. Tax and Benefit Systems and the Work Choices by Parents
Chapter 5. Parental Leave to Care for Children
Chapter 6. Formal Child Care and Out-of-School-Hours Support
Chapter 7. Family-Friendly Workplace Practices
Bibliography
The book is expensive ($37), but there are lots of great charts explaining the data for OECD countries. It includes the U.S., the U.K., and Mexico. The book was published in December 2007.
The great thing is that you and your students can access the book, in .pdf format, from the OECD book store. (You have to click on the little icon to the right of the "Add to basket" link.)
Using Adobe Reader, you can enlarge the charts and the text so they are easily readable. If you ask your students pointed comparative questions and select the charts they should use, this could be the basis for a great lesson.
List of OECD countries
Labels: civil society, economics, pedagogy
posted by Ken Wedding @ 3:40 PM
2 Comments:
It's great to see one of our books endorsed in this way. Thanks. If anyone would like to use this book for teaching purposes, we do offer discounts when multiple copies are ordered. If you are interested drop a line to sales@oecd.org.
Toby Green
OECD Publishing
Sorry, I forgot to add in my previous posting that students and researchers can get hold of the e-book version via SourceOECD (www.sourceoecd.org) if their institution subscribes. Many Canadian and American universities subscribe to SourceOECD. Access to OECD publications and databases SourceOECD is unlimited at subscribing institutions.
Toby Green
OECD Publishing
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